Kern County planning commission approves three consent items including church school expansion and vehicle wrecking yard

The Kern County Planning Commission on an uncontested consent calendar approved three land-use items that staff recommended for approval, including a conditional use permit modification to expand an existing church school in Tehachapi and a conditional use permit to allow a vehicle wrecking yard in Rosemond.

The action came at the start of the commission's meeting after the commission approved minutes from the September 2025 meeting and cleared three items from the consent calendar for a single vote. Chair (unnamed) called for a motion to approve; the motion passed with four votes in favor and one commissioner absent.

Why it matters: all three approvals were described by staff as final actions of the planning commission and therefore subject to appeal to the Board of Supervisors within the 14-day filing period. Planning staff member Murphy explained where and how appeals may be filed.

The items approved on the consent calendar:

• Case 1 — Modification No. 3 to Conditional Use Permit 12 map 16525 (Country Oaks Baptist Church, applicant represented by Anthony Ursua). Staff said the request would authorize a 4,630-square-foot administrative office and a 6,200-square-foot ministry building to support school operations; increase school enrollment from 150 students to a maximum of 200; and relocate two existing cargo containers on a 9.75-acre parcel at 2915 Shout Road in Tehachapi. Staff recommended approval subject to conditions and adoption of the draft resolution attached to the staff report.

• Case 2 — CEP 21 map 9 (Gloria Trujillo de Torres, applicant represented by Myra Salas). Staff described this as a conditional use permit to allow a manufactured home that exceeds the county's 30-year age limit on an approximately 1.18-acre parcel on the west side of Casey Avenue, about 186 feet south of County Line Road in the Delano area. Staff recommended approval with conditions and findings as set forth in the draft resolution.

• Case 3 — CP 39Map23021 (Rodriguez family and associates, applicant represented by Ricardo Rodriguez). Staff said this conditional use permit would allow a vehicle wrecking yard, including dismantling activity, in an M-2 district on an approximately 7.27-acre parcel on the west side of Fifteenth Street West, about 1,300 feet south of Orange Street in Rosemond. Staff recommended approval with the standard conditions and suggested findings.

The commission heard no public comment on these items during the public-presentations portion of the meeting. After staff read the consent items and the chair called for a vote, a commissioner moved to approve the consent agenda as read into the record and another commissioner seconded the motion. The commission voted to approve the consent calendar; the clerk recorded the motion as carried with four votes in favor and one absence.

Murphy, a planning staff member, advised the commission that "for projects where the planning commission action is final, those actions are subject to an appeal to the board of supervisors" and that appeals must be filed at the Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department, 2700 M Street, Suite 100, Bakersfield. "The filing must be made within 14 days of and including the date of the hearing," Murphy said. If no appeal is filed within that period, the commission's action becomes final.

The commission adjourned after completing the consent calendar and hearing no public presentations.